Just The Way You Are Part 16

"I'm sure Tessa will tell you."

"Actually, she's not one for details. Why don't you tell me?"

"I could tell you it's none of your business."

Jimmy put a hand to his heart. "That would really hurt. I thought we were friends."

She shook her head in amus.e.m.e.nt. "Friends? I don't even remember your last name."

"Duggan. Jimmy Duggan."

"Fine, I know your name, but I don't know you well enough to share my private life with you." Jimmy nodded. "All right. Maybe tomorrow." He stared at her so long she grew uncomfortable, since for the second time in less than an hour a man couldn't take his eyes off her. Was there something stuck in her teeth? She ran her tongue around the edge of her teeth in search of anything offensive. Finally, she gave up and asked, "What are you looking at?"

"Your face. You have incredible bones."

"Uh, thanks, I think."

"I'd love to photograph you."

"Oh, please, there's charm, and then there's stupidity. I'm not a model."

Jimmy rubbed his chin. "You don't like what you see in the mirror?"

"No, I don't. Especially since I grew up looking across the room at someone else."

Jimmy put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze. "I know how it feels."

"How could you possibly?"

"My brother is a state senator in Virginia. He graduated magna c.u.m laude from Yale and made a fortune in business before he went into politics. He has the perfect wife, three incredible children, and a house with a foundation that goes back to the eighteen hundreds."

"Wow. What happened to you?"

He stuck out his tongue at her. "My parents ask themselves the same question. I think they sometimes wonder if they brought the wrong baby home from the hospital."

"I'm sure they love you anyway."

"What's not to love? But respect, that's a different animal."

"Yes, it is." They exchanged a look of complete and utter understanding. "You still try, don't you?" she asked.

"I shouldn't."

"Me either."

"They don't deserve us."

"No, they don't." She laughed and so did he. "You know, I'm glad you're here."

"I don't think I'll ask why."

"Jimmy," Tessa called impatiently. "Are you ready?"

"You bet." He looked over at Alli. "How about you?"

"I want to get this over with as fast as possible."

"Worried we won't be able to find a pearl?"

"No, I'm worried that with the four of us in one small boat, we may not all come back alive."

"Who do you think is the most likely candidate to go overboard?"

"You never know."

"Ooh, you are bad. I think I'm sitting next to Tessa."

"Big mistake," she said, laughing at his outrageous expression.

"Maybe I'll just stay close to you," Jimmy said hastily. "Somehow I think you may be more p.r.o.ne to violence than your older sister."

Traitor, Tessa thought, fuming to herself as Jimmy took a seat in the small aluminum boat next to Alli, sitting so close he was practically on her little sister's lap. And Alli was lapping it up like a cat with a bowl of cream.

"What's bugging you?" Sam asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"This whole pearl thing is crazy. It could take us days to find one-if we do at all." She looked away from Jimmy and Alli and concentrated on the water. PrincetonBay was beautiful, the water as still as gla.s.s with only a light breeze to ruffle its smooth surface. "I don't understand why Grams suddenly decided she needed the pearl now."

"Does it matter? You're still going to find it for her."

"I'll try, because Grams was always there for me, and I want to be there for her, even if it means spending the afternoon with Alli. She hasn't changed a bit."

"How would you know? Have you talked to her since you've been back?"

Tessa looked him straight in the eye, irritated by his defensiveness where Alli was concerned. He'd never been like this before. He'd always agreed with her on the subject of Alli. And now, with Alli kicking him out of his house, keeping him away from his daughter, his defense of her just didn't make sense.

"Why do you stick up for her, Sam?"

"Maybe because you seem intent on picking on her."

"Do you stand up for me when she rips me apart?"

Sam sighed. "I wish the two of you could figure out a way to get along."

"That's never going to happen." She took a breath. "Why are you doing this with us, Sam? Whose side are you on?"

"I'm here for your grandmother," he said sharply. "She asked me to help, and I owe that woman more than I could ever repay. As for sides, do we have to have sides?"

"We've always had sides. Since we were kids we had sides, and you used to be on mine."

"Looks like you already have someone on your side," he said pointedly. "Is Duggan your boyfriend?"

"He's a photographer. We have an a.s.signment to do together. And you're avoiding my question. Why are you here, Sam? You could have made an excuse. Grams would have understood. She knows it's awkward for the three of us."

"She wants us to do this together, Tessa."

"I just don't understand what is going on with you and Alli. You say you're getting a divorce and yet you're with her every other second." Sam stared at her, but she couldn't tell what he was thinking behind his dark sungla.s.ses. "Well?"

"What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know-something. We used to be able to talk, to finish each other's sentences. Now it feels awkward all the time. I don't know who you are anymore."

"I don't know who you are either."

"Do you want to find out?" she challenged. Almost instantly she had second thoughts, but she couldn't take it back, wouldn't take it back. Ever since Alli had told her Sam was still in love with her, ever since she'd realized that if she was going to have a second chance with Sam in her life it would probably be now or never, Tessa had been unable to think of anything else.

"Why don't we spend some time together tomorrow?" she suggested.

Sam tipped his head in Jimmy's direction. "Your friend won't mind?"

"I'm asking you, not him. Jimmy came here on his own. I'm not planning my life around him. But if you don't want to..."

Sam hesitated for a long moment. "I want to," he said finally.

"Where?"

"Let's take that sail I promised you. If we go anywhere in town, we'll be the topic of conversation at every dinner table in Tucker's Landing. I'd rather be alone with you."

"A sail sounds perfect," she said, feeling an unexpected thrill run down her spine, another sign of a long-ago attraction that was starting to smolder again. She didn't know if she should throw a log on the flames or try to douse the sparks before they caught fire. Loving Sam could hurt. She knew that firsthand. And she certainly didn't want to go through that pain again.

Tessa looked over at Alli and wondered if the connection between Alli and Sam was truly broken. Before she could ask, the boat came to a halt at the far end of the bay, next to a long line of black buoys. In between the buoys oysters hung in bags off the lines that held them less then two feet under the surface of the water. Tessa moved to one side so Timothy O'Meara could pull up one of the yellow nylon lines.

"How come they're so shallow?" Jimmy asked her, drawing away from Alli for the first time since they'd boarded the boat.

"The oysters grow faster in warmer water," Tessa replied. "Plus, they can access the oysters at any time of the day. At some of the other oyster farms, you have to wait until low tide to wade in and scoop them off the bottom."

"Are we going to do that, too?"

"Depends on whether or not you're feeling lucky today."

He flashed her his patented smile. "I'm always feeling lucky, babe."

"Then it's a good thing we brought you along."

"Really? I thought you'd forgotten all about me," he murmured. "You seemed in rather deep conversation with Sam."

"We have some things to work out," she said evasively.

"I'll bet."

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing," he said innocently. "But..." His smile disappeared. "I hope you work it out."

She eyed him suspiciously. "Why do you care?"

"Because something has been holding you back all these years, and I think I just figured out what, or should I say who, it was."

Tessa was grateful when Timothy dumped a bag of oysters between them. She couldn't talk about Sam or Alli, not with the two of them standing just a few feet away.

"What now?" Jimmy asked.

"Now we go back to sh.o.r.e and start shucking," Tessa replied.

"Excuse me?"

"I'll show you how. It's easy."

"You know how to shuck oysters? You are full of surprises."

"I once shucked ten oysters in one minute. A family record," she said smugly.

"In case you haven't guessed, Tessa was the best at everything," Alli interjected.

"There's one in every family," he replied.

Tessa tensed as Jimmy and Alli shared a small smile that seemed filled with secrets. Then she felt Sam's hand on her arm and immediately relaxed. What did she care if Alli and Jimmy were getting along? It didn't mean anything. In fact, it would give her more time with Sam. And wasn't that what she wanted?

Chapter 13.

*"Okay, I want a kiss," Jimmy said to Tessa a few hours later as the four of them sat at a picnic table overlooking the bay with piles of empty oyster sh.e.l.ls in front of them.

"I have eaten more oysters today than I have in my entire life and I am definitely in need of one juicy, wet kiss." He puckered up his lips and waited for Tessa, who was sitting next to him, to kiss him.

She put a finger against his lips instead. "No way. I am not giving you a kiss just because you got turned on by a mussel."

"You are an unfeeling woman, hard, cold, absolutely no compa.s.sion," Jimmy said.

"My G.o.d, someone who actually knows the real you," Alli mocked from her vantage point on the other side of the table.

Tessa sighed, realizing their unspoken truce had come to an end. For most of the afternoon, their conversation had centered on the oysters and the scenery, with Alli and Sam on one side of the table, Jimmy and her on the other. Now the gloves were apparently off.